This is a very intriguing book. I felt the writing style was a bit simple. The story deals with domestic violence. This is a very relatable book

The book is told in two different time lines, and plot lines. It gives you a nice idea of live in the 1970's, and why things are like are in the 2019's. Brilliant read, definitely what I was expecting.

Outstanding. I loved this depiction of life in the seventies and could relate to the lifestyle having also grown up in poverty where women were hard done by but ultimately pillars of steel, taking strength from each other. I would recommend this novel by Janey Godley.

I've enjoyed Janey Godley's comedy over the years, and was excited to read her first fictional title. I wasn't disappointed. This was a great read, with interesting characters and storyline. The storyline switched between present day and the 1970s and being a child of the 70s it was one that I found really interesting. Some parts were predictable, but it was a good portrayal of the time period. Overall, this was a great read and one that I would recommend.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the review copy.

This has been a wonderful book to read and review. Well written with passion despite the author having her own health issues. I wish you well Janey.

I enjoyed this quick, easy to read novel by Janey Godley, set in Glasgow in both the present day and the 1970’s. Sharon’s mother, Senga, is dying, and she wants her children to know something before she dies. She tasks Sharon with reading her diary from the 70’s and with gathering her siblings and Senga’s friends before she dies. Will Sharon be able to do this and what revelations will the red diary hold?
It is a very emotional book, with some laughs and happy memories but also reflects on the hard times of some families in Glasgow in the 1970s and the difficulties they faced in some of the poor deprived areas. It also shows much love, care and friendship between close communities which still exists in parts of Glasgow today. It is particularly poignant that this book is written now, with financial hardship once again reaching so many families, more people having to rely on food banks and charity, and things are only likely to get even worse. Having said this, Janey’s book is not a depressing book, it is one about life, love, families, friendships and secrets. A very good and interesting read.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set between the 1970's in Glasgow and the present day. Sharon returns to Glasgow to visit her dying mother and reads her diary at her mother's request. This gives an insight into how her mother struggled to bring up three children with very little income. There were plenty stereotypical characters and it was a good insight into tenement life, which I could relate to, having been brought up in Kinning Park in Glasgow. I enjoyed the story, which will be best appreciated by Glasgow folk who will recognise the locations and touches of humour. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Full disclosure from the start I am not Janey’s biggest fan I like a lot of what she stands for- woman’s rights etc- but I find her very brash and her portrayal of Glasgow and it’s people way over the top, stereotypical and not funny. She is for me is a women of two halves she makes out she is wee Glasgow mammy from the east end but her writing, comedy and chat feeds into a not very nice stereotypical almost Taggert in the 80’s Glasgow. In her writing both in fiction and non fiction she swoons over the west end, coming across like a west end wannabe I can actually hear the Glasgow Uni accent in her writing.

All that being said I recently read her autobiography and I enjoyed it, partly down some the characters, the era, , location and also for Janey’s bravery .So I requested the ARC to see what it was like. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book follows Sharon returning to Glasgow to see her dying mum, what follows is Sharon in the first person telling us what is happening in the present and diary entries from the diary of her mother set in the late 70’s, Sharon had been told to read the diary by her mammy Senga, there is also a few text message exchanges from some of people in diary in the present day and a couple of chapters told in the first person from Isa, one of Senga’s friends featured in the diary.

The story is basically Sharon reading her mother’s diary, trying to deal with her pending divorce, her mother dying, tracking down people and making peace with herself, the Sharon chapters I found boring, snobbish, not funny, and the love affair part so cringe I had riddy reading them, Janey clearly used the Sharon character to fantasise what she wanted to be. The other characters in these chapters -brother, sister etc- were badly written and lacked anything other than lazy stereotypical views. She rips it out the ex husband for being woke but gets in involved with a cafe owner who sells raw cakes… make up your mind!!! Other than the mother dying nothing much really happens. I did like how when Sharon reflected on the diary entries she started to understand what her mother’s life was like, how hard she worked to give her children all she could and that her mum was a once a young person with hopes and dreams , I found that touching, genuine and something I think we can relate when thinking about our parents

The diary entries albeit full of lazy written Glasgow stereotypical characters were good fun and I quite liked the trip down memory lane. These chapters also really highlighted the struggle women faced then and still do with regards to class, violence against them and the constant battle to fight for a better fairer society. Janey can write strong women well I’ll give her that, her Glasgow mammies do ring true in parts albeit a extreme version. I found these sections far more interesting than the others, there was at least a bit humour that worked, there was a slightly deeper meaning/message in the story and Senga was far less annoying than Sharon, who is equally annoying in these chapters as her own. Even know these chapters were used to set up the “mystery” in the present day chapters I didn’t feel there was any sense of mystery or even tension created, I saw what the conclusion was a mile off.

This a very quick read, I found it to very rushed, lazy in its character development, badly written in terms of a actual story and it lacked humour. I don’t think this would have been considered by publishers if it was not for the authors fame, her fans are sure to buy this. The two stars are for the the portrayal of the struggle women face and how .strong they are. I think this book could have been so much more with a bit more thought, it really could have been one of the books where not much happens but a powerful message is made though well written characters that lead the story. I remain a non fan but wish Janey well in her health battle and congratulate her attempts at writing whilst being so Ill.

Glasgow, 2019. Sharon has rushed home at the news her mother has been admitted to hospital. It's clear Senga's life is coming to an end. As Sharon gathers family and friends together to say goodbye, Senga, as always, does things in her own mysterious way. She instructs Sharon to find the red diary she kept in the 1970's and to read it.

Glasgow, 1976. Life in the tenements of Shettleston is a daily struggle. You need your wits about you to survive. and your friends. Senga has both in spades: she's part if the Shettleston 'menage' alongside her friends Bunty, Sandra, Philomena and Isa. and whatever life hands them. And they never ever walk away from a crisis - as Sharon is about to find out.

Sharon reads her mother's diary as her mother lies on her deathbed. But there are parts missing from the diary that only Senga or her friend can fill in. This bittersweet read will touch all your emotions. But there's also some humour. Senga lived a life filled with poverty and daily struggles. The characters are well developed. believable and the plotline has been well researched.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HodderStoughton and the author #JaneyGodley for my ARC of #NothingLeftUnsaid in exchange for an honest review.

I love Janey's comedy and her memoir so was excited to read this. It's a book about a woman who is trying to gather her mother's friends to her bedside before she passes away. The timeline flips back and forth but it is easy to follow. The story is set in Glasgow and there are a lot of nods to local places and things. It's an interesting read and quite a quick one.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of Nothing Left Unsaid, a stand-alone novel set in Glasgow in 2019 and the late 70s.

Sharon’s mum, Senga, is dying and she wants Sharon to read her diary before gathering her old friends, Sandra, Isa, Bunty and Philomena together for one last time.

Well, to take my cue from the title, what can I say? Nothing Left Unsaid will be the best book I read in 2022 for so many reasons, whether it’s the poignancy of Sharon’s grief, regrets and life changing realisations or the difficult life Senga led with humour, anger and the ability to survive whatever was thrown at her.

The novel is categorised as crime and there is mention of a frying pan at the start of the novel, which draws the reader in to find out more. This, however, loses its immediacy and I found myself forgetting about it for much of the novel as I got drawn into Senga’s world through her diary entries. She paints a picture of poverty and struggle but also one of love for her kids and strong support for and from her friends. It is extremely realistic and took me back to those times vividly (I am about the same age as Sharon). Full credit to either the author’s memory or strong research because it will resonate for anyone living through those times, but especially Glaswegians as it has captured the mindset perfectly.

It made me laugh and it made me cry. This is a wonderful story of survival and what it takes, made possible by the realistic characters, situations and dialogue.

I would like to wish the author, Janey Godley well in her own health battles and thank her for giving us such an excellent story.

The journey into her mother's past is both shocking and surprising, forcing Sharon to re-evaluate her own childhood, her marriage and what she wants her own future to hold. Loved the story and the pacing and just everything about it… A great story that I couldn't put down!

It's 2019 and Senga is receiving end of life care in Glasgow's Royal Infirmary. Daughter Sharon rushes from England to be by her side and is hoping that her brother and sister will arrive to say goodbye to their mum before it is too late.
Senga tells Sharon to find her red diary and read it and she also want to see all her old friends from Shettleston before she dies.
The story goes back and forward from Senga's diary of life in the seventies raising three children and a husband who was good with his fists and only made life harder for her.
Sharon tries to round up her mums old friends but it is soon clear to her that there is something in the diary that they don't want anyone to read.

This is a real nostalgia romp through the seventies. How people lived, what they ate, what music they listened too. It also describes the class system and how women then struggled to have their voice heard whether it be in their own homes by their husbands or with the law in protecting them and even by the priests in their churches who believed a woman should do as she's told.

I was brought up in Shettleston where Senga's story is set and where the author lived, I lived a few streets away and went to the same school so most of it was like coming home for me except for the fights and the drunken women. I can honestly say I never saw any of that but I do know it happened.

I enjoyed the book, all the old sayings your granny would tell you, it did bring back a lot of memories.
I think maybe the prologue might have spoilt the story a bit as I knew what was going to happen but this could have been on purpose.

Good characters, many I have heard Janey talk about on her Facebooks lives but great she has incorporated them into a larger story. What shone through was the friendship. These women would give theirs friends their last Penny if they needed it. The struggle they had to pay the rent, buy food and keep their children in clothes was real. Their humour kept them going, making good from a bad situation through a joke with a pal. The men, oh goodness like big babies who had to drink and bash women about and just make life so much harder, what a rum lot.

One nibble I had is I have never heard Shettleston called a scheme. It is called this quite a few times in the book. We called outlying new build places like Easterhouse, Castlemilk and Barlanark schemes but Shettleston is a town.
So good reading especially if you live in Glasgow and have memories of the seventies, and I did cry at the end.

This is a heartwarming tale of a woman finiding out about her mother's diary while her mother is on her deathbed, and then reading this to her mother while the end is near. It was well written with a heart-warming and funny storyline and well developed, relatable and likeable characters. I really enjoyed this book and read it really quickly.

I am never sure about people from other professions taking up writing novels. It always feels like they are getting a leg up on other authors through their name recognition. However, it worked for Richard Osman who I really enjoy so I really shouldn't be so judgemental!

Added to that, being from the West of Scotland, I will always want to read novels set in or around Glasgow.

I am definitely glad I picked this book up. This was an enjoyable novel set in Glasgow. Senga is on her deathbed, diagnosed with cancer and only a matter of days or weeks left. As she nears the end, she tells her daughter Sharon of a diary she has at home, a red book filled with the goings on in 1970's Glasgow where she roamed the streets of Shettleston with all her pals.

As the end for Senga nears, Sharon reads through her mum's diary and learns about her mother and her friends and a number of stories of life in Glasgow. However it is clear that something is missing from the diary and only Senga's friends can fill in the blanks....

This was a heart-warming tale, probably best enjoyed by those lucky enough to live in Scotland. There is probably some Glaswegian humour that may not necessarily transfer out of our borders! Although it is heart-warming there are also quite a bit of sadness but the bittersweetness of the novel is what makes it so enjoyable.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review